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PubMedDate not supplied

Complying with federal guidelines: Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003: amendments to Social Security Act.

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 is the most comprehensive health legislation since the initiation of Medicare. It has many other ramifications in addition to establishing a prescription drug payment. This review outlines the prescription drug benefit and attempts to extract the topics important to practicing physicians from the other eleven titles. We will be seeing the effects of this act for years to come.

Drug Prescriptions↗
PubMed1989

Considerations in establishing fees for home-care pharmaceutical services.

The activities of home-care pharmacists are highlighted, and factors that should be considered in establishing a reimbursement schedule are described. Pharmacists are important members of the home health-care team. Responsibilities of the pharmacist include assisting in the development of a therapeutic plan, reviewing and monitoring drug therapy, and ensuring that appropriate and correctly prepared medications are available to the patient. The degree of pharmaceutical service depends on the therapy prescribed. The traditional type of third-party reimbursement--cost of drug plus dispensing fee--is often inadequate and can discourage pharmacists from becoming involved in home health care or from providing services of optimal quality. An appropriate reimbursement schedule should take into account the variety of pharmaceutical services provided to home-care patients and should give special consideration to activities, such as discontinuation of unneeded drug therapy, that lower medical costs. Whether pharmacists are able to provide high-quality home health-care services may depend on how adequately they are reimbursed.

Fee Schedules↗
PubMed2003

Behavioral health issue brief: state budget actions that affect public mental health services and systems: year end report-2003.

With ongoing declines in the economy, states have readjusted their FY 2003 budgets throughout the fiscal year, while at the same time negotiating their upcoming FY 2004 and FY 2005 budgets. Because of the current fluidity of state budgets, this issue brief contains snapshots of actions taken at various times throughout FY 2003. It is intended to provide the reader with a general overview of the effects on public mental health systems, of the decline in state economies. The Health Policy Tracking Service (HPTS) will continue to track this issue, and will update this brief at quarterly intervals.

Budgets↗
PubMed1994

Health reform in Germany. An American assesses the new operating efficiencies.

In 1993, responding to a $5.7 billion deficit among the country's third-party payers, the German parliament imposed mandatory global budgets for physician, hospital, dental, and pharmaceutical services. Although Germany had been able to maintain health spending at a lower rate than the United States, an excessive supply of health resources was beginning to drive prices higher. During the three years the global budgets are in place, German third-party payers (the "sickness funds") and providers will implement several fundamental reforms. These include: Reducing excessive supply of specialists Constraining the acquisition and utilization of expensive medical technologies Reducing the annual number of physician visits per person Reducing average hospital length of stay Integrating community- and hospital-based physician services Reducing payroll deductions for mandated benefits The 1993 reforms also impose a budgetary cap at the 1991 expenditure level for drugs prescribed by community-based physicians. In addition, the reforms call for the implementation of community-rated premiums and stipulate that Germans be able to select their sickness fund each year. Although the reforms make important changes, they leave the basic German healthcare system intact. It is difficult to imagine, moreover, that any of the reforms being implemented will in the foreseeable future place any major element of the health system in serious financial peril; in fact, they will help preserve the system.

Budgets↗
PubMed2004

Impact of prescription coverage on hospital and physician costs: a case study of medicare beneficiaries with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: It is widely believed that appropriate use of prescription medicines can reduce avoidable hospitalizations and more expensive nonpharmacologic therapies, but identifying such cost offsets in operational programs is elusive. Any possible impact would be most apparent in patients with medication-sensitive disease conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). OBJECTIVE: The goals of this study were to develop an observational study design appropriate for estimating potential cost savings in the US Medicare budget as a result of extending drug coverage to persons with particular chronic diseases and to apply these study methods, in an exploratory analysis, to a sample of Medicare beneficiaries with COPD. METHODS: Spending for drugs, hospitalizations, and physician services was compared for COPD patients with and without prescription coverage using data from the 1999 and 2000 US Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. To control for channeling bias, multivariate matching on observable variables was combined with tests for missing variable bias. The matching algorithm used propensity score weighting to ensure comparability between the 2 groups on all observed characteristics at baseline. RESULTS: Our sample comprised 462 beneficiaries with prevalent COPD in the year 2000: 384 (83.1%) had prescription coverage the entire year and 78 (16.9%) had no coverage. After adjustment, drug coverage was associated with 61% higher spending on medications and 29% lower spending on physician services (both, P < 0.05). Hospital costs appeared slightly lower for those with drug benefits, but the difference was not statistically significant. No statistically significant effects were found for services specific to COPD. However, effect sizes were large even for nonsignificant findings. CONCLUSIONS: Although this analysis did not establish a strong causal link between drug benefits and lower costs, 11 of our 12 comparisons had signs consistent with the cost-offset hypothesis.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Employer health care plan design and its effect on plan costs.

This study uses claims data from employers in the Houston Area Health Care Coalition (HAHCC) for 1985 through the first half of 1987 to examine the effect of health care plan attributes on health care costs. Plan attributes affect the site of care and the costs of care. Utilization review clearly was effective in reducing the demand for inpatient services, but that reduction was in large measure matched by increases in care in the outpatient setting. Restrictions on mental health benefits also shifted the site of care. In contrast, neither premium sharing nor the plan's deductible had a significant impact on total plan charges. The study results demonstrate the need to have a comprehensive cost management strategy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Private health insurance in 1975: coverage, enrollment, and financial experience.

More improvement in the scope than in the quality of private health insurance coverage took place during 1975. Four-fifths of the population under age 65 was covered for hospital and surgical care, and nearly that proportion was protected against the costs of physicians' in-hospital visits, X-ray and laboratory examinations, and prescribed out-of-hospital drugs. The $33.6 billion in premiums paid by consumers resulted in the return of only $28.9 billion in benefits, which covered just 44% of their total personal health care expenditures. Major-medical insurance, held by an estimated 43% of the population, helped to overcome some of the deficiencies of private insurance--dollar limitations on health care services, ceilings on the duration of hospital stays, and exclusions for some types of care. It also provided economic protection against catastrophic expenses. Premiums and subscription income rose faster than benefits as private insurers attempted to keep their coverage in line with rising health care costs. The overall underwriting gain was due largely to a $952.4 million gain in group business by the insurance companies.

Adult↗